The
world is changed. What once was a planet struggling to survive is now a planet
bursting to life. The humans are thriving. Gardens are growing. Trees are
reaching up to the sky and the Undeadly clutch on the planet is slowly letting
go.

But
what does that mean for Winter and her friends?

In
the wake of spring, the last of the desperate Undead gather, fighting to
maintain their place in a world that no longer wants them. Mother Nature slowly
but certainly works to purge the planet of the Dead, just when Winter thought
she had finally embraced this Second Life.

Her
new friends are back and old nemeses return for the final chapter in Winter's
Undead journey.

As I stare at this
computer screen I'm still reeling from this book and the end of this stunning
trilogy. It took me several hours to finally compose myself enough to write this
review, simply because at times I was at a loss for words.

As a reader, there
are so many stories that you come across that make you laugh, stories that make
you cry, and some that even make you cringe in fear or clench your fists in
anger. There are some stories that leave you thinking about them for days with
the dreaded book hangover. But then there are those stories that reach deep
down into your heart and leave an imprint on your soul. Almost Alive and this
entire Trilogy is one of those stories. This final installment of the Beautiful
Dead Trilogy, this last chapter of Winter's story is one that will leave you
both heart-broken and enraptured.

What I've learned
from Banner's writing is that every detail, every simple act, every action in
his story-telling, in his writing serves a bigger purpose. Nothing is
meaningless and in time it all comes full circle. Banner wrote a story about
living, about life by telling it through the eyes of a character who had lost
theirs but was given a chance for another of a different kind. It's by far one
of the most brilliant stories I have had the joy of reading.

Banner does not
disappoint with this last book and despite my desire to summarize all the
challenges, the discoveries, the revelations, the heartache, the forgiveness
and the love experienced in this last book; I won't. I won't because this
Undead Almost Alive journey, Winter's journey is one that you, the reader, need
to experience in all its wonder, all its pain, all its compassion and all its
tenderness.

If you take the
plunge and find yourself on this journey with Winter; I hope that in the end
you find yourself as enamored as I was. I hope Winter, John and the rest of the
characters in this book leave their little mark on your heart, and I hope that
Banner's writing opens your eyes to the beauty that is everything around you.

Sad to see this story
end, but elated in knowing that it's ending was simply perfect. <3

His
eyes smolder me and he runs a rough, weatherworn hand through my hair. It’s so
strange, to look into his eyes and, in all honesty, not be able to tell alive
from dead, dead from alive … I’ve been in this changed world so long, it makes
so little difference anymore.

---------------

“Hold
your tongue,” I warn him coolly, “or I’ll cut it out of your mouth and hold it
for you.”

---------------

"Time
is what we all want, and it's what we all waste."

---------------

"This
is so dumb, all of this. Why are we suffering?" He gets to his feet, pulls
me up onto mine. "Come."

"Where
are we going?" I ask.

"Who
cares," he says, a smile playing on his face. "Wherever it is, I'll
race you there."

---------------

“Everything
is a … a balance of good and bad,” I start saying from memory, still scrolling.
“Our lives are … are infinite. Our efforts, infinite. We are a series of little
efforts toward a greater whole, from this life to the next.” I give up, staring
at the room full of shadowed heads and say, “What the author says is, no matter
if you’re the one who nudges the tower or topples it, you are as vital.”

In fact,
the whole world’s dead. Every single person, apparently. Unburied and
reimagined into a beautiful living-dead woman called Winter, she is doomed to
spend the rest of eternity in a quaint, peaceful city with no hunger, no
sickness and no bills to pay. Her Second Life is perfect in every way possible.

So why is
she so bent on destroying it all?

After
angering the mayor, befriending rebel headless teenagers and igniting romance
with a dark and brooding neighbor, she finds herself wrestling madly with a
First Life she cannot remember and this Second Life she cannot accept. Not to
mention the maniacal army of rotting corpses who want her dead. Again.

But none of that matters in
comparison to an even worse problem. There’s a guest in her house. A rude,
good-looking man on the run ... a man with a heartbeat.

Winter’s
Second Life became a lot more complicated when the Living moved into her
hometown of Trenton. Undead neighbors fight with their Breathing ones. Food is
sparse. And, worst of all, the season is taking a change for the colder.

A desperate
plea for help to a neighboring city turns deadly and soon Winter finds herself
facing an old friend from her past whose plot to annihilate all life on the
planet may have everything to do with her.

And what
about the man-with-the-heartbeat in her house? Is there even room for love in
such a ruined, unforgiving world?

New friends are made. Others are lost forever. In the
dead of winter, no one is safe.

Daryl Banner is a writer and
composer who graduated from the University of Houston with a degree in Theatre
and Psychology. After writing several plays and a musical in college, he
started composing for short films and websites, one of which is the Vamplets
"Baby Vampyre Dolls" website: (www.vamplets.com)

Interesting tidbits: Daryl is also
an obsessive piano player, video game enthusiast, and occasional actor. He's
been remixing video game music for over fifteen years, and is a passionate
Final Fantasy fan. You can feed your ears with many of his remixes (as well as
his original music) on his YouTube page "www.youtube.com/DarylBanner". Also, he personally answers all emails he
receives, so if you have some strange desire to write him, he may enjoy it. He
currently resides in Texas.